Ran half today, people got mad at me for running behind them and "drafting", is there some etiquette I'm missing?

Wait, the wind was BEHIND you?

I've never heard of someone get mad for drafting. These people need to sack up, and you need to stop apologizing and be a man.

KnowledgelessNewbie wrote:

Was running towards back of a group to help get carried to a faster time, group broke apart and I stayed behind a woman since she was going pace I wanted. Wind was pushing us forward and I was behind so that I could just focus on staying with her. She got mad and accused me of drafting. I said I was sorry and pushed ahead to do my share of leading for a bit in return.

Came up behind another runner and as soon as I was behind her she accused me of drafting also and yelled at me to go by already.

Is it bad etiquette to run behind someone for a little while? This was first half for me so I'm don't know any unspoken rules / codes or anything.

Are you kidding? You should have laughed at them.

Maybe you were too close to them? I can't imagine why that would aggravate someone otherwise. With that said, I find drafting in road races pretty douchey unless it's incredibly windy (in your face). It's fine in track since you're running single file anyway. But as long as you trade off and do some of the leading, I don't see the problem. It should be reciprocal if you're using another person.

Some chicks don't know, man. Ran a half the other day and was in a group with two ladies. Afterwards one was super nice and shaking hands and the other acted like she was too good to associate with the people who just helped her through a half, wouldn't shake anyone's hand. SMH.

You must have missed the thread about hating on people pacing others. You are guilty of using someone as a pacer with their permission. Grow a pair and learn how to run on your own with needing someone to drag you along.

i can see finding it annoying if someone is gaining on you, then just settles in immediately behind you, if they're really close. but i certainly would never say anything

We were a group for a while and then it fell apart so we were all helping each other. I ended up helping push the first woman to catch the second and then continued on my own. I did chuckle when second woman said something and didn't apologize.

First woman was nice after race and thanked me for helping her catch up to second woman.

Just seemed like there was something I was missing since it happened twice in same race.

I've shared pacing duties with fellow competitors. I usually ask if they would like to share the work. I've never been rebuffed thus far. Of course it is understood that the last mile is every man for himself. By no means is this a definitive approach, but perhaps the OP could have asked?

What she really meant was, "Get out of my personal space, creep!"

Unless you are competing for the win it is probably good etiquette to ask if they want to share the work as another poster said.

Trade off every couple of minutes, just make a simple hand wave for the other to come to the front.

Did you get all up in dat a$$?

If there was a tailwind, you are blocking wind assistance, which is poor form especially if another portion has a headwind.

KnowledgelessNewbie wrote:

Was running towards back of a group to help get carried to a faster time, group broke apart and I stayed behind a woman since she was going pace I wanted. Wind was pushing us forward and I was behind so that I could just focus on staying with her. She got mad and accused me of drafting. I said I was sorry and pushed ahead to do my share of leading for a bit in return.

Came up behind another runner and as soon as I was behind her she accused me of drafting also and yelled at me to go by already.

Is it bad etiquette to run behind someone for a little while? This was first half for me so I'm don't know any unspoken rules / codes or anything.

You can't do that at races anywhere in Western Europe due to the customary overbearing body odor of the European people.

I see your point about drafting, but I think this is really about accidentally irritating a couple of people in a race.

When I am racing and I hear someone behind me, I really expect that person to pass me or draw up next to me, not hang out behind me.

I am not tall enough for anyone to draft off of me, but if another person settles in behind me for any long than 30 seconds, assuming the closeness of the draft position, I am going to hear that person breathing and hear his/her footsteps and wonder weird race thoughts ("I hope you're NOT looking at my butt", "I should have pushed away from the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving", "so pass already") and it will take my focus off my race.

You say you were using the women to pace you, in which case you would have run next to them. The women probably got creeped out by the closeness and the fact that you were running behind them.

In a nutshell

1) passing = okay

2) running alongside = okay, but no talking or blocking

3) running behind, if close = not okay, especially if you are running behind a woman

4) what does it say that you have to hear this from two women in a race and then again on this forum? what are you not getting?

If it is just two runners, it is better to run alongside instead of just behind. Being drafted is annoying in a road race. Hearing the breathing, foot falls, and occasional lugie right behind you for mile after mile with out any pacing benefit gets old fast. There is an extra creep element drafting off a female runner.

It takes .000000001% more effort to just run alongside and get into a nice grove where both runners are pulling each other along without even feeling it.

It's a race ...

People can get bent out of shape about it ... good for them, then you know that you are in their heads. My college coach, 2x OT qualifier in the marathon, drilled into our heads that we were never to take the lead unless we were going for the win and could reasonable expect to hold the lead to the finish.

When people complain about drafting, they are suffering, broken, or are triathletes.

No need to feel guilt over not sharing the duties, do what you need to do to beat competitors and/or run your best time.

If this is a race, and the other person was smart, they would slow down a lot. There was a really windy local 5k I was running in and it was a rust buster so I just wanted to race and place well, some guy starts drafting off of me and I said, F that and started running like 6:00 pace, which lasted a good 3/4 of a mile. Tried a surge and he caught back up, then I just dropped him in the final 400.

Wow. I never knew this was such a big issue. Unless there's a strong wind, does it make THAT much difference? I'm not fast enough to keep up with anyone any more, but here are my thoughts on it:

Anyone who cares about the effects of drafting is competing with other runners as opposed to just trying to finish etc. So if they care enough to complain, then they are trying to beat you... so the game is on and everything that's legal is on the table. Go ahead and mess with 'em. Gamesmanship is part of any sport.